Being a graduate student means you know A LOT about one specific domain. Knowing so much about one thing, or a few things, makes it hard to talk with other people about. Most people might not know the first thing about your research, while you know the first to the very last.

That’s what McGill’s three minute thesis (3MT) competition is all about! Communicating something you know a lot about in a way that everyone can understand. Contestants are graduate students challenged with communicating their research to a diverse audience in only three minutes. That means no jargon, no graphs, no justifications and nothing confusing. Everything you do must be compressed into a bite-sized presentation that can be understood by anyone from the ages of 12 to 100.

This year McGill’s 3MT competition will take place  on Wednesday March 15th from 1:00pm-3:00pm in the Thompson House Ballroom. Each contestant will be judged by a panel of five judges, who will decided their scores and pick a winner. All of the presentations will be live streamed over the internet for anyone who can’t make it in person, but would still like to take part in observing the events.

If you are taking a particular interest in the festivities or maybe you know someone competing (like myself) then there is a prize for people’s choice as well. You may vote online, and the contestant with the most votes will be dubbed the winner of the people’s choice award.

To register, for more information and for links to vote, please click here.

I look forward to seeing your lovely faces in the audience this coming Wednesday!